Ardagh is one of the largest employers in Winchester. It produces thousands of glass containers for the food industry per day. This plant has been producing glass in Winchester for over 100 years. The land where the plant sits was originally owned by the Litschert family.
The Litschert family leased the land to the Woodbridge Leggett Company in 1898. They constructed a plant to make window glass. The company was unsuccessful and the rights were sold to the American Window Glass Company in 1899.
The Monarch Gas Company purchased the site in 1903 to obtain two gas wells on the property. The following year, the Woodbury Glass Company moved to the plant from Parker City. They expanded the Davis Glass Plant’s inventory. The company reorganized and saw capital stock worth $275,000.
In 1917, the plant burned down. It was rebuilt with a third gas well. Thatcher Manufacturing Company purchased the plant in 1920. In 1922, the plant was purchased by Turner Glass of Terre Haute.
In 1931, the plant was bought by the General Glass Holding Company with an equal interest by Hocking Glass. In 1937, these companies merged with Anchor Cap Corporation to become Anchor Hocking Corporation. Anchor Hocking operated the plant for decades.
In 2012, the Ardagh Group purchased the company for $880 million. The Ardagh Group began as the Irish Glass Bottle Company in Dublin Ireland in 1932. During the 1990’s the company purchased several others and is now based in Luxembourg. The Ardagh Group is now one of the world’s largest metal and glass packaging companies. They operate dozens of plants in 22 countries. Their two plants in the area are two of the oldest continuously operated glass container plants in the United States. Their plant in nearby Dunkirk, Indiana opened in 1889, and the Winchester plant opened in 1898.
The glass factory in Winchester has always been one of the largest employers in the county, and has been an important part of the economy of Randolph County for well over a century. The workers at this plant also played an important part in the founding of another of the major employers in Randolph County. It was the site of a lunch counter started by Duane E. “Wick” Wickersham. This lunch counter was the humble beginnings of what became Wick’s Pies.
